FOOTBALLERS FROM the third cohort of the ‘On The Board’ Effective Board Member programme graduated at Wembley Stadium on May 4.

The ceremony, attended by graduates and officials from the Professional Footballers’ Association (PFA), The Football Association (FA) and the League Managers Association (LMA) including Gordon Taylor OBE Chief Executive at the PFA.

Footballers from the third cohort of the ‘On The Board’ Effective Board Member programme graduated at Wembley Stadium on Wednesday 4th May 2016. The ceremony, attended by graduates and officials from the Professional Footballers’ Association (PFA), The Football Association (FA) and the League Managers Association (LMA) including Gordon Taylor OBE Chief Executive at the PFA.

‘On The Board’, was created by international governance consultant Karl George MBE, founder of the Effective Board Member Programmes (EBM) in conjunction with Sports On Board and is sponsored by the PFA and The FA to help players and others involved in football to progress from the pitch to the boardroom. Read More

While running a number of successful Effective Board Member (EBM) programmes for young leaders, and expanding them into sport, Karl George knew it was time to address the issue of the lack of women on boards.

There has been much debate regarding the lack of – and in many cases the complete absence of – women on boards, a subject addressed by Lord Davies in his 2011 report Women On Boards.

In the report, Lord Davis said: “At the current rate of change, it will take over 70 years to achieve gender balanced boardrooms in the UK.”

Mr George developed the existing EBM programmes in order to try and help fill this gap.

I am delighted that I have the opportunity to work with The Birmingham Post and several organisations in promoting board diversity. Having been a board member and served many organisations for a number of years, I have continually seen a lack of diversity in the place of influence, which is typically at the top of an organisation.

As a governance consultant and previously as an accountant, I have acquired the skills to contribute to the boards of organisations in different sectors over the past twenty years.

I have observed, like many other leaders in the city, the gaps in board composition. On these boards, I saw for myself the lack of younger faces and women.

Former England footballer Les Ferdinand is coming to KPMG’s Birmingham office to speak about barriers to career advancement and the benefits of a programme designed to promote diversity in the boardroom.

Mr Ferdinand will be highlighting the benefits of the ‘On The Board’ Effective Board Member (EBM) programme and explaining how he believes it helped him secure a recent return to his former club Queens Park Rangers.

Read here why leading governance consultant, Professor Karl George MBE thinks diversity in the boardroom is important and why he created the Effective Board Member programmes to help change the face of the nations boards. This feature profiles graduates from Get On The Board.

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A ground-breaking initiative aimed at getting more former professional players on to club boards, and make football’s boardrooms more diverse, was celebrated at Wembley Stadium on Wednesday.

Former footballers including Les Ferdinand, Chris Ramsey, Ian Taylor and Nathan Blake graduated from a Corporate Governance course, entitled On Board, which has been funded by the Professional Footballers’ Association.

Former Albion defender Darren Moore, ex-Villa midfielder Ian Taylor, former Wolves and Baggies striker Jason Roberts and ex-Molineux forward Nathan Blake have all completed the ‘On Board’ course designed to prepare them for life in the boardroom.

Tottenham coach Les Ferdinand is also among the group, which is aiming to get more directors from ethnic minorities. They have graduated from an accredited course which is backed by football authorities including the FA and PFA.

Football luminaries joined the The FA and PFA at Wembley Stadium to celebrate the inaugural ‘Get on Board’ graduation ceremony.

The initiative will create and increase the presence of the black and Asian ethnic minority people on boards – and is led by former West Bromwich Albion and Reading forward Jason Roberts and his colleague Karl George.

[intro] Former Premier League stars lead push for ethnic minorities to have their place inside boardrooms [/intro]

Henry Winter, The Telegraph

A group of ex-footballers, including Jason Roberts, Les Ferdinand and Ian Taylor, have joined forces with a corporate governance expert, Karl George, to tackle the lack of ethnic minorities in boardrooms in English football.